Manufacture of barrel constructions

ABSTRACT

A system for producing wooden barrel constructions of the type including a plurality of staves assembled in side-by-side relationship with the assembly defining a generally circular cross section. Each stave is provided with a central bilge portion whereby the finished barrel will have a large diameter central portion and smaller diameter end portions. The individual staves are characterized by a narrow end portion and a wide end portion with the width of the bilge portion exceeding one-half the sum of the widths of the end portions. The staves are assembled in the barrel so that wide and narrow end portions are located at each end of the barrel.

United States Patent David S. Humphrey l 17 Berkeley, Terre Haute, Ind. 47804 73,085

Sept. 17, 1970 Oct. 19, 1971 Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented MANUFACTURE OF BARREL CONSTRUCTIONS 3 Claims, 5 Drawing figs.

U.S. Cl

147/1, 147/35.5, 144/314 R, 217/88 Int. Cl. B27h 5/00 [56] References Cited UNIT ED STATES PATENTS 407,019 7/1889 Krauser 904,924 11/1908 Berry et a1. 217/88 2,649,124 8/1953 Merron 144/309 2,747,629 5/1956 Blum 144/309 Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. Attorney-McDougall, Hersh & Scott ABSTRACT: A system for producing wooden barrel constructions of the type including a plurality of staves assembled in side-by-side relationship with the assembly defining a generally circular cross section. Each stave is provided with a central bilge portion whereby the finished barrel will have a large diameter central portion and smaller diameter end portions. The individual staves are characterized by a narrow end portion and a wide end portion with the width of the bilge portion exceeding one-half the sum of the widths of the end portions. The staves are assembled in the barrel so that wide and narrow end portions are located at each end of the barrel.

IRCUMF.

MANUFACTURE OF BARREL CONSTRUCTIONS This invention relates to wooden barrel constructions and to techniques for producing the barrels.

It is well known that the production of wooden barrels involves relatively strict manufacturing specifications. This has developed since virtually all wooden barrels are produced for purposes of aging whiskey. Such barrels are made from a high quality white oak which must be completely free of defects in order to be used in a barrel. The presence of any defects will materially affect the quality of the subsequently produced whiskey and, therefore, extreme care must be taken when selecting material to be used in making barrels.

In preparing wood for use in barrels, logs having a diameter between about and 48 inches are cut into sections, usually about 38 inches long. These billets are then split into sections and the resulting wooden bolts are then cut into substantially rectangular pieces having a particular curvature in cross section.

These rectangular pieces which are employed for making individual barrel staves are first subjected to an edging operation which removes the bark as well as a portion of the sap area which is found immediately adjacent the bark.

In accordance with conventional techniques, these substantially rectangular pieces are then subjected to a finishing operation which results in staves having a desired bilge." Specifically, the opposite edges of each wooden piece are cut whereby astave having narrow end portions and a width gradually increasing toward a central bilge portion will be produced. When such staves are assembled into a circular configuration, and when the ends of adjacent staves are brought into mating relationship, the presence of the bilge will result in a barrel defining a large diameter central portion'and smaller diameter end portions.

Because of the necessity of producing defect-free staves, defects are removed during the final finishing operation. Accordingly, if a defect is found in a rectangular piece, the finishing operation will involve removal of material until the defect is completely gone. If the defect is adjacent one end of the stave, then the wood containing the defect will be cut off as waste, and a corresponding piece of the stave will be removed from the opposite end in order to achieve the desired overall configuration.

Since the rectangular pieces often carry a defect in only one end, there is a substantial waste of good material involved in conventional practice. In view of the costs of the wood employed, this wasted material is a significant factor in the overall manufacturing cost of a barrel.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved system for manufacturing wooden barrels whereby greater efficiencies from the standpoint of manufacturing costs can be achieved.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide improvements in the design and manufacture of barrel staves whereby the waste of wood is materially reduced thereby providing substantial savings in the manufacturing costs of wooden barrels.

These and other objects of this invention will appear hereinafter, and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, specific embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is an elevational view of a barrel manufactured in accordance with the techniques of this invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 comprise elevational views of barrel staves characterized by the features of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an assembly of improved barrel staves prior to joining into a barrel construction; and,

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a barrel stave taken about the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

This invention generally relates to a system for producing wooden barrel constructions. The barrels of this invention are produced by assembling a plurality of staves in side-by-side relationship with the assembly defining a generally circular cross section. Each stave defines a central bilge portion whereby the finished barrel will include a large diameter central portion and smaller diameter end portions.

The improvements of the invention relate specifically to the production of the individual staves. These staves are formed by cutting away side portions from pieces of wood whereby each stave will define a narrow end portion, a centrally located bilge portion, and a wide end portion. The bilge portion is dimensioned so that its width will exceed one-half the sum of the widths of the respective end portions.

In the barrel construction, the staves are assembled so that each end of the barrel will be made of narrow end portions of staves as well as wide end portions of staves. The narrow and wide end portions may be located in alternating relationship at the barrel end or the wide and narrow end portions may be positioned next to each other, and this is done to compensate for larger variations which occur in some staves.

The particular stave configuration of this invention provides significant advantages from the standpoint of manufacturing efficiency, and particularly from the standpoint of material savings. The advantages are most apparent because most pieces of wood to be used for making the stave will have a defeet in only one area. This defect can be cut away in the stavemanufacturing operation by using the end of the wood containing the defect for forming the narrow end of the stave. There is no necessity for cutting away any extensive amount of good material from other portions of the piece of wood since the larger bilge portion and wide end portion will be fon'ned from the other areas of the wood piece.

FIG. I illustrates a barrel construction 10 manufactured from a plurality of staves 12. In accordance with conventional practice, the barrel structure defines a substantially circular cross section and includes a central portion 14 of relatively large diameter, and upper end 16 and lower end 18 of lesser diameter. A plurality of hoops 20 are utilized for pennanently holding the barrel staves in the desired relationship.

A stave 12 of the type contemplated by this invention is illustrated in FIG. 3. This stave defines a narrow end 22, a central bilge portion 24 and a wide end 26. The cross section of the stave is as shown in FIG. 5. It will be noted that a curvature is imparted to the stave and that the sides 28 are cut to form right angles with the inner and outer stave surfaces. This cross section will provide the desired mating relationship when the staves are positioned in a circular assembly.

The narrow end 22 of each stave l2 defines a width A and the wide end 26, a width B. The bilge portion 24 defines a width which exceeds one-half of the sum of the widths A and B. The amount of excess width of the bilge portion will determine the dimensions of the large diameter portion 14 in the barrel assembly. Thus, this large diameter portion will exceed the upper and lower end diameter by an amount depending upon the bilge dimension of the individual staves.

In the manufacture of a barrel, the staves 12 are preferably laid out in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4. It will be noted that the upper and lower ends of this assembly have wide and narrow stave end portions positioned in alternating relationship. In practice, narrow end portions of adjacent staves may be located next to each other in the assembly to compensate for variations in the amount of difference between wide and narrow ends. Thus, in some staves, the wide end may exceed the narrow end by an inch or more which will provide a sub stantial angular relationship in those staves. In other staves, the difference in width may be a fraction of an inch whereby these staves approach a rectangular relationship. Accordingly, a plurality of these latter staves may be aligned with their wide and narrow ends adjacent to each other to bring the entire set of staves into a parallel relationship.

Staves can be laid out on a table in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4, and the ultimate circumference of the barrel can be controlled by selecting staves which will achieve a desire circumference. As will be explained, staves are manufactured in various dimensions since they are cut from logs of various sizes, and since the cutting operation takes into account the location of defects. When laid out flat in this fashion, gaps D will be formed at each end, the dimension D depending upon the bilge of the staves. These gaps are, of course, closed when the staves are assembled in circular fashion, and the upper and lower ends are brought together.

in producing a set, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the parallel condition of the assembly may be visually observed as the staves are located in position one by one. On the other hand, mechanical means may be employed for measuring the degree of parallelism during the course of production. The mechanical means may include a straight edge 40 and the first stave will be located in abutment with this straight edge. The abutting side of this first stave is in parallel" when the gaps at each end equal D/2. When the next stave is put into place, the gaps at each end will equal D. The variation from parallel" between the comers 42 and 44 of this second stave can then be measured, for example, by measuring means moved into engagement with these comers, these measuring means determining the distance between each comer and the edge 40. The assembler will then locate the third stave with a view toward bringing the comers 46 and 48 into as close a parallel relationship as possible, that is, a relationship which will make the corners 46 and 48 equidistant from the edge 40. This can be accomplished by alternating wide and narrow ends; however, as explained, where one stave has a substantially greater variation in end width, two or more following staves may be located with their wide and narrow ends adjacent to each other before there is a return to a parallel relationship. In order to simplify the assembly operation, small blocks equal in size to the bilge (dimension D) may be inserted between ends of the staves to fill each gap as it is formed.

As indicated, the staves are of various sizes depending upon the sizes of the original logs and the location of defects. The actual production of a stave will usually begin with a rectangular piece such as shown in FIG. 2. In order to provide a stave which is completely free of any defects, a cutting operation which will remove the portions of wood including the defects 30, 32 and 34 must be employed. in the case of the stave 12 shown on the left in FIG. 2, this cutting operation operates to remove the defects 30 and 32 by providing the narrow end 22 in the end of the piece containing these defects. It will be apparent that a rather substantial amount of material is removed in the area of these defects; however, the instant invention does not require the removal of substantial material in other areas. Thus, the bilge portion 24 and wide end portion 26 occupies substantially the entire width of the original wood piece so that all good material in this area is preserved for use.

The other stave shown in FIG. 2 includes a defect 34 which is also removed in the manner described. The dotted line 36 illustrates the manner in which a stave would be cut from the piece of wood in accordance with conventional practice. It will be apparent that even though there are no defects in one side of the wood piece, a substantial amount of good material is sacrificed.

The system of this invention does not require any significant changes in barrel-manufacturing operations. Specifically, the staves of this invention can be manufactured from wood pieces precisely the same as those presently supplied for manufacturing barrel staves in the conventional fashion. The bilge dimensions may be selected strictly in accordance with conventional practice since the positioning of wide and narrow end portions results in an overall assembly which maintains the same relationship between the bilge dimension and the ultimate barrel dimension. For example, a typical stave manufactured in accordance with this invention will have a narrow end portion 2 inches wide, a wide end portion 2% inches wide and a bilge width of 2% inches. The bilge for this stave will thus be as inch, and this will result in a barrel having substantially the same dimensions as a barrel manufactured from conventional staves.

In experiments conducted employing the techniques of this invention, a supply of wood pieces produced in conventional fashion was subjected to finishing operations. A portion of the pieces were finished in accordance with present practice to produce staves each having relatively narrow ends of substantially the same width and central bilge portions. A separate portion of the wood pieces was finished in accordance with the techniques of this invention to provide staves of the type described.

The resulting staves were used for producing 81-inch diameter barrels by first forming the staves into individual sets. All sets were formed in conventional fashion except that the staves of this invention were laid out with wide and narrow ends of staves being located at each end of the sets. The particular selection of wide and narrow ends is made to keep the ends of the set in parallel. Accordingly, in making a set, where one stave had a particularly large size variation, two or more staves would then be added with their wide and narrow ends adjacent each other to compensate and to bring the end of the set into parallel.

It was found that the amount of staves available for producing the barrels was approximately 10 percent greater when staves were produced in accordance with the techniques of this invention. The average difference in width between the wide and narrow ends of the staves was about 5/16 ths of an inch. This represents an extremely important advantage in view of the fact that material cost is such a large factor in the overall cost of barrels.

it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the above-described system which provide the characteristics of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

lclaim:

1. In the manufacture of wooden barrel constructions wherein a plurality of staves are assembled in side-by-side relationship with the assembly defining a generally circular cross section, each stave defining a central bilge portion whereby the barrel defines a large diameter central portion and smaller diameter end portions when the staves are brought into mating relationship, each of said staves being produced from a substantially rectangular piece of wood, the improvement comprising the steps of providing a plurality of said rectangular pieces, forming a plurality of staves from said pieces, each stave being formed by cutting away side portions of one of said rectangular pieces of wood, the cutting operation comprising removing material from each side of the piece of wood so that the finished stave defines a narrow end portion, a centrally located bilge portion, and a wide end portion, the width of said bilge portion exceeding one-half the sum of the widths of said end portions, and assembling a plurality of such staves to form a barrel by locating the wide end portions of some of said staves in adjoining relationship with the narrow end portions of others of said staves.

2. A method for manufacturing barrels in accordance with claim 1 including the step of cutting defects from each piece of wood during manufacture of a stave by forming the narrow end of the stave from the end of the piece containing such defect whereby the defect will be included in the portion of the wood which is cut off during manufacture of a stave.

3. A method for manufacturing barrels in accordance with claim 1, including the steps of providing a substantially flat support defining a pair of points spaced apart a distance equal to the length of a stave with a straight line being defined between said points, placing said staves side-by-side in said adjoining relationship on said support by locating the comers of the first stave in said set adjacent to said points with said corners being positioned equidistant from said points, the subsequent staves being located in place by measuring the distance between said points and the corners of each stave placed on said support, and placing subsequent staves on said support with their wide and narrow ends being positioned in a manner such that the distances measured along the ends of the set between the comers of each subsequent stave and the respective points is as close to equal as possible. 

1. In the manufacture of wooden barrel constructions wherein a plurality of staves are assembled in side-by-side relationship with the assembly defining a generally circular cross section, each stave defining a central bilge portion whereby the barrel defines a large diameter central portion and smaller diameter end portions when the staves are brought into mating relationship, each of said staves being produCed from a substantially rectangular piece of wood, the improvement comprising the steps of providing a plurality of said rectangular pieces, forming a plurality of staves from said pieces, each stave being formed by cutting away side portions of one of said rectangular pieces of wood, the cutting operation comprising removing material from each side of the piece of wood so that the finished stave defines a narrow end portion, a centrally located bilge portion, and a wide end portion, the width of said bilge portion exceeding onehalf the sum of the widths of said end portions, and assembling a plurality of such staves to form a barrel by locating the wide end portions of some of said staves in adjoining relationship with the narrow end portions of others of said staves.
 2. A method for manufacturing barrels in accordance with claim 1 including the step of cutting defects from each piece of wood during manufacture of a stave by forming the narrow end of the stave from the end of the piece containing such defect whereby the defect will be included in the portion of the wood which is cut off during manufacture of a stave.
 3. A method for manufacturing barrels in accordance with claim 1, including the steps of providing a substantially flat support defining a pair of points spaced apart a distance equal to the length of a stave with a straight line being defined between said points, placing said staves side-by-side in said adjoining relationship on said support by locating the corners of the first stave in said set adjacent to said points with said corners being positioned equidistant from said points, the subsequent staves being located in place by measuring the distance between said points and the corners of each stave placed on said support, and placing subsequent staves on said support with their wide and narrow ends being positioned in a manner such that the distances measured along the ends of the set between the corners of each subsequent stave and the respective points is as close to equal as possible. 